Morning all… happy, "it's officially winter now that it's dark at 5:30" day

A few parts rolled in yesterday and I was able to get a few things together. I shielded the pick guard with some scraps of shielding tape. It's not too purty but it'll get the job done. I'll probably get some copper tape to do control and term cavities. I did find a body yesterday on eBay too… a midnight wine standard strat body. In good shape and loaded with all the hardware and electronics for $129 shipped. I can use some of the other parts on it for other projects/or sell them so it seemed like a good deal… and given that I'll be locking the bridge down, the crappy pot metal trem block is of no real significance. I may even see if there's a way to remove it entirely and replace it with a block of wood that I can then drill and put string ferrules in… we'll have to see. So the pots are loaded on the guard, the guard is shielded, and a body is on the way. I need to go to radio crack today and pickup some wire (I found a stash of capacitors in my parts bin) so I think I'm getting closer. I'll have to get a few pics up soon… I really like the look of the little jazz bass knobs on the pickguard. Cheers, JG

Ran into the first little snafu… the "mini" toggles I ordered were anything but. Thankfully the CS dept. where I ordered them from is helping me sort it out and they're helping me find a high quality mini toggle w/ a quarter inch mount hole. Odd that the "mini" toggles I ordered required a 1/2" hole… I thought mini toggles implied that they would be 1/4" but I guess not.

While I have a million questions, I'll keep it to one a day. Regarding the cables I'm going to need… basically, if I buy/build a junction box I'll just need 1 TRS cable and one regular cable coming from the guitar) to get things hooked up correctly? Is that correct? And so, only one of the input jacks needs to be stereo? How would that effect the "tiger" wiring diagram as listed on the Wald site? I've tried to read up on all this stuff on various threads but I need an idiot proof answer… all this is quite new to me. Damn it, that's all kind of questions, though it was born of one.

JamGuy wrote:Ran into the first little snafu… the "mini" toggles I ordered were anything but. Thankfully the CS dept. where I ordered them from is helping me sort it out and they're helping me find a high quality mini toggle w/ a quarter inch mount hole. Odd that the "mini" toggles I ordered required a 1/2" hole… I thought mini toggles implied that they would be 1/4" but I guess not.

While I have a million questions, I'll keep it to one a day. Regarding the cables I'm going to need… basically, if I buy/build a junction box I'll just need 1 TRS cable and one regular cable coming from the guitar) to get things hooked up correctly? Is that correct? And so, only one of the input jacks needs to be stereo? How would that effect the "tiger" wiring diagram as listed on the Wald site? I've tried to read up on all this stuff on various threads but I need an idiot proof answer… all this is quite new to me. Damn it, that's all kind of questions, though it was born of one.

Yes, if you are going it use a junction box of some sort you need 1TRS and 1 1/4" mono instrument cable.

You'll need two stereo jacks for the guitar. The OBEL is stereo so you have out and back to the effects, the regular out jack that goes to the amp has a stereo jack too that the battery is wired through. That way when you pull that jack out it breaks the circuit and your battery lasts a lot longer.

"Do not write so that you can be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood." -Epictetus

So with regard to wiring up one of these bad boys… I'm confused where the grounds from the jacks are? Do you not need them? It seems straight forward enough to put one of these together, I just thought it'd need ground wires

I decided to opt for a MIM Strat neck instead of spending a lot more on a Warmoth or American made Strat neck… I really like the American Special/HWY 1 Strat necks but the specs of this new Deluxe Roadhouse/Lonestar neck to be the same. The only differences I see are there being one less fret, a gloss finish, slightly different 70's logo, plastic truss rod plug, and a slightly more amber tinted finish… none of which bothers me in the least. Both necks share a 9.5" radius and larger frets… that's close enough for me. I guess the AmStd/HWY1 frets are jumbo vs. these being med. Jumbo… I can't imagine it being a problem.

The body is set to arrive today… I need to refrain from tearing it all apart as soon as it gets here. I might just as well wait until the new neck arrives, pair them up, and mess around with it while I wait to sort out the toggles on the pickguard and get the rest of the parts I need. Cheers folks and thanks again for answering all my questions… you've all been a huge help thus far!

So much for keeping it intact and playing it for a while Here's what's in the works for today… I need to apply another 3 or 4 coats of shielding paint (the can suggests at least three... I've been using 5 and getting good results) I also need to paint the term cavity as that's where the pre-amp is going to be located. I need to rout a tiny bit out to get the battery to fit back there also… I had to do the same when mounting the battery in another strat. Should anything else exciting happen today I'll keep you updated with pics.

The neck arrived yesterday and feels awesome… I think I made a good (economical) choice.

*I have a quick wiring question too… do I still need a stacked tone pot if I'm using the 2nd tone pot for the bridge and neck humbuckers (and a 250k for the middle pup) or can I wire both N&M to the same 500k pot?

A slight change in the master plan… I've decided to go for a H/H/H configuration instead (at least I'm 95% sure). My question is this…. the two Rosebud diagrams on Wald's site are different… do I have to switch the middle p/up around and flip the wires or not. Also, it looks to me that the wires going to the 5-way on the Wald Diagram are backwards. I thought the posts went N/M/B from the rear to the front with the frontmost tab being the one connected to the preamp.

Also, I'm a bit curious what the 5-way setting provides for options… are they N, N/M, M, M/B, B? I'm not to clever with this electronics stuff… I need the "Idiots guide to…" version.

I installed these pickup rings last night and got the preamp today in the mail… a big thanks to Mr. Wald! I'm itching to get the pickups so I can begin wiring. I also got the toggles placed and drilled last evening… perhaps not the most ideal placement but I think it'll do. Given the space I have to work with "under the hood" this seemed like a decent option. The tele tip makes the 5-way a little easier to grab.

1. The jacks cavity should be shielded as well as the underside of the pickguard. You will also need to shield the top parts of the cavities at the edge so it makes contact with the shielded jack plate and shielded pickguard. This will ensure that all is enclosed in the shield.

2. The 5 way lugs are lined up opposite of the actual switch placement. To ensure you get it correct the first time around you will want to decipher the actual pickup lugs and output lug with a continuity meter.

3. Rosebuds wiring diagrams are also different in whether the neck pickup will share a tone control or have its own. Both the flipped middle and/or shared or not shared tone control is all up to you.

~waldo

Disclaimer: I only make, modify or build things for those that seek what i may be able to provide.

waldo041 wrote:1. The jacks cavity should be shielded as well as the underside of the pickguard. You will also need to shield the top parts of the cavities at the edge so it makes contact with the shielded jack plate and shielded pickguard. This will ensure that all is enclosed in the shield.

2. The 5 way lugs are lined up opposite of the actual switch placement. To ensure you get it correct the first time around you will want to decipher the actual pickup lugs and output lug with a continuity meter.

3. Rosebuds wiring diagrams are also different in whether the neck pickup will share a tone control or have its own. Both the flipped middle and/or shared or not shared tone control is all up to you.

~waldo

1a. Would you recommend using copper shielding tape in addition to the shielding paint in all the cavities? As it stands the pickguard and underside of the term cavity cover are also shielded with adhesive shielding (not copper, the silver stuff from StewMac) so I think I'm good there.

1b.Given that the preamp is located in the term cavity and isolated from the other electronics (as well as painted with shielding paint), would that still need to be wrapped in electrical tape as recommended?

2. Ok, I think I have that figured out…

3. I was going to have a shared neck/bridge tone and an independent middle tone knob as illustrated in your Rosebud diagram. Regarding flipping the middle pickup, it's been my experience using both the DP104s and DP100s that they're quiet enough not to need to flip the middle one around for any hum cancelation.

* Thanks Mike, I'm really looking forward to putting this all together… I've messed around with lots of partscasters, teles, and even rewiring some Gibson stuff but nothing quite like this. I really appreciate you (and others) taking the time to explain all this. I'm not looking to nail Jerry's tone exactly but I am a huge fan of the Dead. I think that the benefits of this set-up will be advantageous regardless of what I'm playing as I do have a rather extensive effects chain and do use an envelope filter, OD, and Distortion regularly. The OBEL will be a handy feature and I think the preamp will be a nice addition too.

Howdy all… pickups are supposed to arrive today so I should be able to finish up the rest of the wiring and get the assembly finished. I'm not sure when my junction box parts are supposed to arrive but I'm excited to get cracking on that… I bought some cool paint and think it'll be a fin project. I'm thinking of calling it the "Box of Rain"

Here's a test run… everything seems to be working correctly thus far, only the OBEl isn't up and running yet. I'm happy that the pickups and switching is all good. The hum is fron the amp, not he guitar… the guitar itself is dead quiet. Sorry the audio isn't better, the video (and audio) are just from my point and shoot camera. Cheers.

The junction box is coming together… just doing the final clear coats on the housing before attempting painting the outside. I painted in the inside for practice more than anything… not sure why I signed and serial numbered it… as I'm only planning on making two of these (it seemed like the pretentious pedal builder thing to do… they'll be worth a fortune now ).I think I'm going to make one for my backup rig too… I have to say, this pedal building thing is pretty fun… I might like to try and build a pedal with actual electronics inside.